Holland comes together for annual letter carriers food drive

Saturday

May 17, 2014 at 8:08 PM

By Lisa.Ermak@hollandsentinel.com(616) 546-4219

In assembly line fashion, boxes of rainbow rotini, canned black olives, pie crust mix and various other nonperishables were packed perfectly into hundreds of banana boxes Saturday.The volunteers packing up the food donations were gathered in the parking lot of Hope College’s DeVos Fieldhouse hard at work for Holland’s 19th annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive.As chair of the food drive’s planning committee, Denny Oosterbaan, resource manager for Community Action House, spearheaded the effort, making sure volunteers were organized and working efficiently.One of those volunteers was Linda Huizen.“I was a single mom and I always see there’s a need,” she said, while waiting to unload bags of food. “And it’s just good to be among people in the community.”About 90 other volunteers helped to collect food from area residents’ mailboxes by driving 12 prepared routes throughout the community while others helped empty the food from the full collection vehicle each time they returned to the donation site.It was quite the production.At last year’s drive, 70,000 pounds of food were collected and donated. Oosterbaan said the goal this year was to gather more than 80,000 pounds.This year, five agencies will benefit from the drive, including the Center for Women in Transition, Heights of Hope Food Pantry, Salvation Army, Community Action House and Holland Rescue Mission.As the city has grown and diversified over the years, Oosterbaan said the need has grown, too.“Whenever we make a special plea for food, people always step up.”Holland always hosts its drive a week after the May 10 national event because of Tulip Time, U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Sabrina Todd said.“It does hurt us a little bit, but I think for cities our size, we’re always in the top,” Oosterbaan said.Last year, he said, Holland ranked ninth nationally among cities its size for raising the most food.“This is really a generous community. It always has been.”Mid-morning on Saturday, Oosterbaan said he was feeling thankful.“Thank you,” he said. “The people of this town are so generous. Thank you.”For more information or to volunteer at 2015’s food drive, email Shelia VanderHorst at sheliav@hollandrescue.org.— Follow this reporter on Twitter @SentinelLisa.